The Overture
by Sable-Reiver
Summary: Reid is the conductor of a concert hall. Different one shots of when Morgan and Reid meet through their music. AU


"If you were to ask anyone in the Virginia Symphonic Orchestra, they would tell you that the most strict conductor they've had is Spencer Reid. As first violin, Derek Morgan tends to work rather close with their newest member and knows first hand that Reid is merely stubborn. It doesn't make liaising between him and the other musicians any easier. The simple task of relaying information has taken Morgan from most-loved member to having people cringe when he walks into the room. It's not that Reid doesn't mean well, he's just very particular about musical perfection, and when one is trying to change the prestige of an orchestra and turn it into Symphonic, Morgan can kind of understand why.

"You're kidding me." Morgan repeats as though he and Reid have not been stuck in this same back and forth loop throughout the entirety of their meeting. Morgan thought it a little strange when he showed up and Reid signed that is would just be the two of them.

Reid rolls his eyes, obviously getting annoyed at Morgan's uncertainty. Still, he signs patiently and much more slowly than Morgan needs him to, almost literally spelling it out for him. Morgan understands that Reid believes that the history of a piece is just as significant as the performance itself. Regardless of why Reid wants him to do it, it doesn't mean that Morgan wants to stand up in front of two thousand people a couple of times a week and give a history lesson.

The meeting ends with Morgan leaving the room first to go Wikipedia the pieces for Bach's Requiem, their next performance, Reid's breathy laugh following him out along with the thought that their conductor looks much better this way than when he's frustratingly asking for perfection.

When Reid took over the Orchestra almost two years ago the Concert Hall held mandatory sessions after practice so that the musicians could obtain at least a cursory knowledge of American Sign Language. Unfortunately most people did not pick up on much, making Reid have to keep a rolling whiteboard with him to properly call people out when they were out of tune or off beat. When Reid started leaving their mistakes up on the board, the Concert Hall pulled together an emergency session on ASL for all the first instruments. Utilizing the section leads as well as Morgan as his go-to communicator, Reid was able to efficiently tune the orchestra to his will, and the musicians were able to hide the whiteboard from him for good. There is very little confusion between any of the members anymore, even Emily Prentiss, their new flutist could be found hanging around after practice to talk to Reid and discuss things far beyond the scope of Morgan's care.

Morgan and Reid get all the time they want together, regardless of how much time spent as an orchestra, going out for drinks or food, or simply chatting while waiting to store their instruments, Morgan and Reid have a couple of meetings a week just to themselves, at one of their apartments. Reid will pace around whatever room they're in for a couple of hours, outlining enthusiastically not only the details regarding the piece, but the culture of the place that spawned its birth in the first place. Morgan spends this time furiously jotting down anything and everything he thinks might be significant. It's nice, spending time with Reid like this, and it's impressive, how much knowledge about music and history Reid has floating around in such a young mind. It's due to these sessions that Morgan knows more about musical history than the entirety of his schooling on the subject has ever taught him. Reid is captivating and passionate about the topic and it draws you in. One of their earliest meetings had Morgan mentioning that Reid should have been a teacher to which Reid nervously responded that he's not good with people. Morgan let the subject drop, but now and then the thought will resurface in his head and reaffirm the idea.

The second meeting had started not long after Morgan had taken to introducing the pieces on stage, Reid had been dissatisfied with the final products, warping Reid's lectures into nearly incomprehensible jumbles of names and vague time periods. When confronted about it, Morgan confessed to having used Wikipedia to fill in some of the gaps that he couldn't remember. So a follow-up meeting had been devised, where Reid would look at Morgan's words and change incorrect times and show Morgan how to correctly spell names. They would spend the night arguing until they had to order food, and continue to argue over the exposition until it was written and rewritten so many times that it was hard to tell who wrote precisely what.

It became reasonable, on these nights where working together had drawn on longer than anticipated, to simply keep the spare bedroom in Morgan's apartment clean and made so that Reid could fall asleep and not take a cab home or the train, as was his custom. It didn't happen each week, but it happened enough that Reid began to carry some overnight gear on his person, just in case. Most importantly, Reid would bring the biggest binder of sheet music that Morgan had ever seen, Reid's ideas cramped in the margins and between notes and bars of music that even had Morgan's trained eyes crossing.

Reid always shrugged his music and notes off as nothing, but Morgan had seen the minimalistic alterations his previous conductor had adhered to, making these sheets filled with time and notes and, he could only assume, sleepless nights, quite meaningful. Morgan enjoyed knowing just how completely Reid put himself into his work and decided that this little fact was for him alone.

It's another two years fine tuning the orchestra to perfection before the musical association upgrades them to the prestige of a Philharmonic orchestra. They get the news right before they go onstage and everyone is beaming and having more fun with the set than Morgan thinks he's ever seen. Reid, above all, is grinning so broadly throughout the entire performance that his mouth must be aching, but the cheer is infectious, and the music swells with the euphoria from everyone. Morgan can't take his eyes off of Reid, the ease which his baton is commanding them and the readiness to comply that the instruments chorus out. It's enchanting and Morgan thinks that he could stare at Reid like this forever. The conductor turns to the strings and commands perfection, the smallest of movements in his left hand that looks like a sign. Morgan doesn't know if it was a trick of the light or if Reid had actually signed him something in the middle of a performance, but it cements the thought that, yes, he could do this forever as long as Reid is in front of him, smiling the way he is now.

Morgan hadn't realized just how domestic he and Reid had become until JJ passed them at the end of their conversation to get some natural shots of practice for that season's Prelude and laughed more to herself than anything. Reid wandered off to talk to the director and manager of the Concert Hall; Aaron Hotchner.

"How long have you been dating?" JJ asked, sliding up next to Morgan mischievously.

p"We're not." Morgan said simply, not thinking much of the question. He's a touchy person, it's not the first time someone has thought he's dating someone when he isn't. When he looks away from Reid's conversation that he totally wasn't eavesdropping on, and catches the way she's staring at him.

"You might want to think about starting soon." Morgan is eyeing her cautiously. It's not often that your marketing manager tells you to date technically your boss. "He certainly is."

Without waiting for a response JJ whisks away, flipping through the photos she had taken of their practice session. Morgan wanders through the rest of the night in a blur, absently chatting with the musicians making conversation. In fact, he almost walked out the door right past Reid, except the conductor stood right in front of him and asked if he was ready for their meeting. He reluctantly goes, but only because he knows that he can't skip out on a meeting with the Hotchner, Strauss, and whoever else they wrangled into a meeting on a Monday night.

You couldn't pay money to have Morgan reiterate what they spoke about in the meeting, he mostly nodded, smiled, and put in embarrassing less than his two cents worth. He noticed a couple of times Reid glancing over out of the corner of his eye, but ignored the silent questioning gesture. He just needed some time.

Alone in his apartment allotted Morgan some much needed time for contemplation on how to approach the subject. It's not that Morgan has never had a coworker develop feelings for him but that doesn't mean that he gets to treat every situation the same. The biggest issue was not how Reid felt about Morgan, but the extent of Morgan's own feelings for Reid. Until he sussed out those feelings on his own, there's nothing to talk about with Reid.

Despite his best efforts to act as normally as possible, he apparently wasn't doing a very good job because after the second day of work not one, not two, but 5 musicians cornered him separately and asked if there was anything they could do to help, or to let them know if he ever needed someone to talk to about anything. It was frankly both sweet and embarrassing and Morgan wasn't sure whether to be pleased that his work-family cared so much or concerned that Reid was going to pick up on something odd he was doing.

He shouldn't have worried because at the end of the day, as Morgan is helping fill out some paperwork, that Garcia had to remind him about, regarding their upcoming tour across the state, Reid approaches him and signs sloppily and quickly, an obvious sign of the his concern and discomfort in asking. Morgan feels his chest fill with warmth at the concern and cannot help but smile broadly. Morgan realizes something that should have been very obvious long ago, and just says, "I'm fine, Reid." because he really is now.

It takes an embarrassing extra month for Morgan to say anything to Reid. Morgan has never been particularly fond of relationships at work and he doesn't know how to overcome this hurdle in his mind. He runs out of time when Reid asks to speak with him alone. Reid's signing has never been precise, but it's worse now, it's only after years of working alongside him that Morgan knows what he's saying. It's odd, because they're the exact words that Morgan was trying to figure out how to form himself and he takes solace in the fact that Reid is having just as much of an internal struggle as he was.

"I think we should try." Morgan says, he doesn't know how long they've been sitting in Reid's office but it feels like too long and not long enough at once.

Reid is stuck staring at Morgan for a long time before he nods in agreement. They'll work through any issues later.

Nothing ends up changing between them, Morgan judges, surprised. They talk like normal, Reid calls him out on his sloppy bowman ship and fingering, and while Morgan spends most of practice following Reid instead of the music, Reid dolls out his time and energy to everyone equally. This can work, Morgan assures himself, pleased that no one will even know.

"I know." JJ says, leaning against the wall as Morgan rearranges instruments in their storage chest.

"Know what?" Morgan says, not paying attention to the tone of her voice as he focuses on the literal puzzle he's working on.

"About you and Reid." Morgan pauses, halfway through shifting one the drums. "Just make him happy." She says, not dwelling on proper workplace behaviour, and walks away. Morgan owes her a bottle of chardonnay. Maybe some nice chocolates too.

Morgan and Reid spend the next couple of months on edge, waiting for Hotch to tell them it's unacceptable, or Strauss to find out and fire one or both of them. Neither happen, but in worrying so much, they spend a lot of extra time together, and Morgan learns things about Reid that he didn't know, but make perfect sense. Morgan learns that Reid is a genius with an eidetic memory and that if he hadn't become a conductor he would have spent his life in school and solving uncrackable cases of the human mind. In turn Morgan explains that he was going to become a police officer, but that a football injury to his knee made it impossible for him to pass the physical portion of the exam. Together they laugh about Reid's dislike of machines and love of magic, and Morgan's two sisters and how he got a black-belt in Judo to fend of their dates.

It's the end of their winter season and while Morgan and Reid have gotten very close no one besides JJ and Garcia have mentioned anything to them about their relationship. They're preparing for their last performance, Morgan leading the orchestra through a couple of warm ups when Hotch walks in and asks to speak with him. Morgan tells them to continue their usual routines, and leaves the room to the sound of tuning instruments.

Reid is already seated in Hotch's office and it feels like Morgan's stomach has fallen out. "I've known for some time, about the relationship between the two of you." Hotch says as soon as Morgan has taken his seat strategically as far away from Reid as possible. At the sight of the two of them guiltily beginning to interject Hotch stops them. "I waited through the season to mention it because I wanted to see if the two of you could maintain a working rapport despite your relationship. I'm pleased to say that both of you exceeded my expectations." He smiled, a rare sight, but a welcome one. "You may continue on the grounds that you continue your working relationship as you've demonstrated yourselves to be capable of."

Morgan beams at their boss, Hotch has always been both lenient and logical and Morgan loves every bit of it right now. He and Reid both thank him before leaving to rejoin the orchestra. A few musicians exchange glances, but no one remarks when they reenter, smiling like the love sick idiots they are. Reid gives the usual 'go out there and play well' speech that accompanies each performance. Everything is the same but it feels different to Morgan, better, maybe? He doesn't know how to describe it.

They take the stage and match key like always. Applause bring Reid out on stage like it does every night they play. Reid gestures to Morgan who stands up and bows with practiced precision. The final performance of the season. It's the end of their year, but it feels much closer to the start of something greater.

The show is over too soon, and too soon the instruments are away and the orchestra is out eating dinner together, and Morgan is ordering for Reid like he always does, and JJ is giving him this weird look over the appetizers. Everyone is saying goodbye and the giddy feeling that had been washing over his night is falling away just as quickly as it had come. JJ pulls him aside as people say goodbye and head off to their families and summers. She's been showing people performance pictures all night, they all look so professional in them and the musicians get a good laugh out of it. JJ pulls out her camera and Morgan looks up from where Reid is chatting with Prentiss about some Russian movie Morgan had fallen asleep through and refused to watch again. JJ clears her throat and Morgan looks guilty until he sees the fond look on her face. He looks at the photo she's pulled up and it's beautiful. It's a close up of the night's performance, it's a normal picture of a normal occurrence; Reid is standing in front of his conductor's podium and gesturing to Morgan, who has stood up but is caught looking at Reid instead of the audience. They're staring at each other in the timeless void of the photo. Reid is extending his hand to Morgan, the same smile on his face that Morgan saw the night they became a philharmonic orchestra. Morgan can tell that the look on his own face is adoring and smitten and euphoric.

"Can I have it?" he hears himself breath out. He could look at the picture forever.

Reid shows up then and Morgan tears his eyes away from the camera. Reid says something about an important interview Garcia had set up for them and he starts to drag Morgan away from a perfect moment in time. He hears JJ call out "Of course! Bye." as the men match pace beside each other. Reid slides his hand down from where it was gripping Morgan's wrist to gripping Morgan's hand. They reach Morgan's car and Morgan can't help but lean down and kiss Reid. Reid doesn't pull away, but Morgan can feel him tense. It's short and chaste and when they break apart Morgan just says "We're off the clock."

Reid rolls his eyes and climbs into the car. Morgan can see that he's smiling and gets in on the driver's side. "So about this interview."  
'There isn't one' Reid replies. Morgan laughs and everything in that moment feels perfect.

A/N: Hey, hi, and hello.

Reiver here. It's been awhile since I've put paper to pen for entertainment rather than education, so I know it's been longer than that since you've seen or hear from me or Sable. I just want to take this time and apologize that our initially anticipated 3 times a week schedule is obviously no longer in effect. As I'm sure you all know, life gets in the way.

As is obvious, life has gotten in the way for both of us and while forcing yourself to write and read is a brilliant practice, it is rather unfeasible for us at this time. I, myself, am attending school now and juggling three jobs. My spare time is usually spend falling asleep while my boyfriend and I try to have a date (No. Seriously. I literally just sleep and those are our dates). However school does this strange thing for me where it convinces me to become creative. So I'm back to writing. I write without schedule but I'll do my best to write more than the nothing that has permeated this account for the last couple of years.

All the best until I see you guys again, and thank you so much for checking this out after all this time. As always, feel free to drop me a line to chat or comment or give some pointers!  
"-Reiver! 


End file.
